iMac doesn't recognize new hard drive

[Ncaroline]

Hopefully somebody here can help me. A few weeks ago my iMac wouldn't turn on anymore and I brought it in. The guy told me that the hard drive is bad and needs to replaced. He wanted to $225. At this point i didnt wanted to spend that money on my iMac mid 2010, so I thought I will give it a shot myself. Replaced the hard drive with a seagate barracuda.
I started the computer in discovery mode (cmd+optiom+R) and everything. The computer doesn't recognize the new harddrive. This time I took the computer to a apple store. They told me the same thing..... bad hard drive. They recommended to buy a new Mac since it was a 2010. I called the online store where I bought the seagate hard drive and they send me a new one. I put in the new hard drive and had the same problem, so I thought it must be the SATA cable, so I went ahead and exchanged the SATA data cable but STILL have the problem, the computer doesn't recognize the hard drive.
I hope here is somebody who can help me.

 

[DeltaMac]

So, what's possible now?
Your iMac does not see the hard drive, so it's logical to assume that you have a bad hard drive.
That means trying a different hard drive.

You have tried 2 hard drives.
And, you tried replacing the SATA data cable.
That's the easy/cheap steps.

Have you checked to see if the power supply is providing power to the SATA power cable?
(Maybe you can hear the hard drive spin up when you turn power on? The hard drive might be very quiet, but if you are listening for that, you should hear it start up within a few moments of pressing the power button.)
If not, the DC power cable could be bad - or the power supply
If you can hear the hard drive spin up, then your fault is most likely the logic board. You would have pretty much eliminated everything else.

 

[MAJ6288]

You could try the hard drive in another PC, or put it in a caddy and try it? That way you could eliminate the hard being at fault.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You can buy a USB3/SATA "docking station" from amazon for about $20.
Then you can put the new hard drive into it, connect it to the Mac.
Then... try internet recovery.
When internet recovery loads, go to Disk Utility and see if it can "see" the new hard drive (in the dock).
If it does, try initializing (erasing) it to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
Then see if the internet recovery installer can put an OS onto it.

If something else is damaged inside the Mac, probably not worth fixing it now.
Time to look for something new or at least newer (Apple refurbished Mac?).

Do you have access to a second Mac, by any chance?

 

[FlaCowboy]

Hopefully somebody here can help me. A few weeks ago my iMac wouldn't turn on anymore and I brought it in. The guy told me that the hard drive is bad and needs to replaced. He wanted to $225. At this point i didnt wanted to spend that money on my iMac mid 2010, so I thought I will give it a shot myself. Replaced the hard drive with a seagate barracuda.
I started the computer in discovery mode (cmd+optiom+R) and everything. The computer doesn't recognize the new harddrive. This time I took the computer to a apple store. They told me the same thing..... bad hard drive. They recommended to buy a new Mac since it was a 2010. I called the online store where I bought the seagate hard drive and they send me a new one. I put in the new hard drive and had the same problem, so I thought it must be the SATA cable, so I went ahead and exchanged the SATA data cable but STILL have the problem, the computer doesn't recognize the hard drive.
I hope here is somebody who can help me.

[doublepost=1540656416][/doublepost]I know this is an old thread however, I actually found resolution for this problem. If interested in the solution please message me at My iMac 27” mid 2010 has been down for over a week with this frustrating problem, and today I finally figured it out.

 

[chabig]

[doublepost=1540656416][/doublepost]I know this is an old thread however, I actually found resolution for this problem. If interested in the solution please message me at My iMac 27” mid 2010 has been down for over a week with this frustrating problem, and today I finally figured it out.

Why private message? It sounds like you must be selling something. Otherwise you’d just post what you figured out.

 

[mikehalloran]

A 2010 has 3 SATA II busses and USB 2. Just sayin...